The Imperceptible Woman, Part 1

The rain is falling sideways.

Welcome to Olympus City, where super-powers, physics-defying tech, and unearthly creatures are all possible now. Human nature, however, remains unchanged.

No one is born a perfect superhero, but a few strive to live up to the ideal anyway.

Part 1

The whole idea sounded pretentious, but Alyssa had no choice. Her boss had decreed that she attend the Olympus Dental Hygiene Symposium, the name of which implied superiority over any number of online learning options. Alyssa would have happily taken an online course or watched a recorded lecture. She felt no need to devote an entire day to a symposium. The very word punctured her eardrums.

Alyssa was alone in her disdain. She headed down the sidewalk alongside two co-workers, Crystal and Bonita, both of whom looked forward to the day ahead. Crystal’s resting smile was as broad as ever.

“This one looks good,” Crystal said, browsing the agenda on her phone. “A session on treating patients with chronic illnesses.”

“They have great options every year.” Bonita didn’t need to lower her eyes to any phone. The seasoned hygienist had memorized much of the agenda. Alyssa heard the options wrestling with each other as Bonita mentally mapped out her day. “The radiology lecture seems especially timely.”

Alyssa had noticed that one too: Minimizing the Risk of Accidental Physical Enhancements During Imaging Scans. Or, in other words, how not to inadvertently give patients super-powers while taking X-rays of their teeth, as if anyone knew a surefire way of avoiding that. It wasn’t a common occurrence—only one documented instance so far, and it didn’t occur at Apollo Family Dentistry.

Perhaps that was something the symposium had going for it. It would be so boring and mundane that it couldn’t possibly give rise to any new super-powered offender. The event would be peaceful—on the surface, anyway.

Alyssa dreaded a day of needing to tune out chattering thoughts from all directions. Each lecture would be like a movie theater with a rowdy crowd, constantly interrupting, never shutting up, and Alyssa couldn’t even hush anyone because she needed to pretend not to hear them in the first place.

Busy streets were easier to tune out. Though numerous people surrounded her, their thoughts blended in with the various traffic noises and conversations. She had grown accustomed to this particular din. So, for now, she enjoyed the sunshine and pleasant weather before having to disappear into the Parthenon for the next seven hours—that would be the local convention center Parthenon, not the Ancient Greek temple Parthenon. It was not difficult to distinguish the two.

Alyssa seldom ventured into the business district at the center of Olympus City, where the tallest skyscrapers dominated the skyline, but she used to spend time on those rooftops during her brief stint as the Silver Stranger. She’d wind her special watch and teleport up to one, and from there she’d scan the city telepathically, seeking out trouble and often finding something.

Trouble had found her just last week, had found everyone, forcing her to bring the Silver Stranger out of retirement. Alyssa had helped save the day. It should have been a wonderful feeling. Her bare wrist itched.

A raindrop hit her forehead. Another fell from the blue sky.

Bonita glanced up in confusion. “Didn’t think they were calling for rain today.”

The next raindrop hit Alyssa between her nose and lips, and that’s when she realized it was raining sideways.